Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) was a Chinese dynasty that reigned for 300 years, succeeding the Sui dynasty. Its founder Li Shimin overthrew the Sui and expanded the empire into Vietnam, Korea, and Central Asia, but the Tang was hurt by An Lushan and Huang Chao's rebellions, followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era.

History
The Tang dynasty was founded by Li Shimin, who overthrew the weak Sui dynasty in 618 CE after the Sui failed to conquer Goguryeo in Korea. The Tang allowed for decentralization, allowing nobles, gentry, officials, and religious establishments to have their own power. Li Shimin retained many Sui government practices, but the dynasty and nobility were descended from Turkic elites that built small states after the fall of the Western Jin as well as Chinese officials and settlers from those lands. The Tang had several tributary states that they managed from their capital of Chang'an, which became a center of trade. Nestorian Christianity and Judaism even spread to Chang'an, in addition to Taoism and Buddhism. State cults based on Buddhism flourished in Inner Asia and northern China, and the Tang allowed for Mahayana Buddhism to come to the empire, making it the state religion. Buddhist influence in China spread with the Tang, and Confuicianism also spread through the dynasty. However, the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other foreigners invaded the Tang, and Wu Zhao reigned from 690 to 705 as the empress regnant of the "Second Zhou dynasty" before her death.

In 755, the An Lushan Rebellion broke out in the Tang dynasty, and it cost the Tang dynasty millions of losses. The Tang put down the uprising by An Lushan and his northern dynasty's 200,000 rebel troops, but Huang Chao later rebelled and gained the support of the rebels. Local warlords wiped out the rebels, but the warlords seized power over the decentralized Tang and divided the Tang into Five Dynasties and Tang Kingdoms after Chang'an fell in 907 to a warlord who wiped out the Tang. The Tang never regained power, and the land was again divided.